The director of Lithuanian air navigation company Oro Navigacija, Saulius Batavičius, believes that smugglers are launching weather balloons in order to systematically create a threat to air traffic in the area of Vilnius Airport. He expressed this view to LRT.
“The balloons were launched at specific intervals so that several of them would always remain in locations that are critically important for traffic approaching Vilnius Airport. We could only watch helplessly as these balloons hovered, and we could not resume operations at the airport,” he said.
Vilnius Airport was closed on Sunday evening. The suspension lasted more than 10 hours. It reopened only on Monday morning, affecting 50 flights and more than 7,400 passengers.
According to Batavičius, there were around 60 balloons in total, about 40 of which were in critical landing zones.
“As I mentioned, they were launched continuously, and the military kept informing us about new radar marks,” he said.
Batavičius stressed that in such a situation the company cannot risk passenger safety, and the decision to reopen air traffic is made only when there is certainty that the weather balloons no longer pose a danger. He also believes the balloons are being launched deliberately into sensitive zones to cause maximum disruption to Vilnius.